Articles

Articles

Jul 22, 2004 ·

Scholars take heart: Good colleges classes can still be found

RALEIGH – It’s nearly August, and university classes will begin soon. Meanwhile, both within and without the halls, those who love academe are voicing concerns over the content of those courses. It’s fluff, it’s biased, it should have been taught in high school, it shouldn’t be taught at all, it certainly shouldn’t be taught by other students, the same stuff is on public-access TV, it’s being taught only so the professor can have a set of “research assistants” helping him with his book, well if it’s going to be taught, how about grading the students on what they’ve learned, &c. It’s enough to make true scholars despair.

Jul 16, 2004 ·

University projects included in proposal

RALEIGH – Since the start of the 2004 short session, House and Senate leaders have debated a series of proposals that would increase the debt load for the state while funding several projects within the University of North Carolina system.

Jul 9, 2004 ·

Why there’s a VCR in your English literature classroom

RALEIGH – I write a monthly column for Carolina Journal entitled “Course of the Month,” which is a Golden Fleece Award for courses in North Carolina universities that feature “overt political content, rabid infatuation with pop culture or sexuality, [or] abject silliness.”

Jul 7, 2004 ·

Chronicle Rant “A Real Doozy”

The Chronicle of Higher Education often publishes articles with which I take exception, but the July 2 issue contained a real doozy – a rant entitled “The Contradictions of Cultural Conservatism in the Assault on American Colleges” by Donald Lazere, an English professor at Cal State-San Luis Obispo.

Jul 1, 2004 ·

Another UNC Bond Proposal Is Approved

Another bond package has been approved for the University of North Carolina system, but this one was done without voter approval. State legislators approved a nearly $340 million bond package to finance a what were deemed “necessary projects” for the UNC system, even though some did not appear on the UNC Board of Governors’ wish list.

Jun 25, 2004 ·

General Assembly Considers Bills Affecting UNC System

CHAPEL HILL – Proposed legislation affecting the University of North Carolina system captured headlines throughout the 2004 short session. Most centered on the $340 million bond package that included some projects that had not even been approved by the UNC Board of Governors. There were other bills, however, concerning higher education that either passed or were dropped in anticipation for greater discussion next year.

Jun 17, 2004 ·

Arrest Warrants Dim College Hopes, Dreams

While his peers hang out in public places laughing and joking and preparing for their college careers, Rageman holes up at friends’ houses peering nervously out of basement windows. He doesn’t have time to think about college. He fears he’s more likely to be thrown in the poke. “I worked hard in school,” Rageman said. “So what if I knocked over a few convenience stores graduation night?”

Jun 11, 2004 ·

Is America’s College Graduation Rate a “Huge National Problem?”

A recent report published by The Education Trust entitled “A Matter of Degrees: Improving Graduation Rates in Four-Year Colleges and Universities” argues that we ought to be deeply concerned over the fact that only about 60 percent of the students who enroll in four-year institutions in the U.S. earn a bachelor’s degree within six years.